Pallavi Agarwala The Frame & I + Home Sweet Home

Artist Talk: Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 2:00pm in The Theatre Centre BMO IncubatorReception: Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 3:30–6:00pm in The Theatre Centre Café
Exhibition will continue from March 18 to April 23

In partnership with the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) and the South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC), the Library Gallery presents works by Pallavi Agarwala, an illustrator and animator from New Delhi, India. Agarwala is TAIS’ 2017 International Artist in Residence. Her work draws upon the poetic language of animated documentaries as means to reconstruct narratives. With a focus on the lives of people in modern cities, she is interested in addressing and representing the underrepresented in her work. Using experimental techniques in drawing, film, and collage ‘cut-ups’ to visually construct metaphors regarding disruption and change, Agarwala believes in approaching subjects with humour and plurality. Considering this as vital to her process and to her efforts to represent the notion of the ‘other’ she is also interested in thinking about the future of cites and how this theme of difference is experienced within urban environments.

Join us at The Theatre Centre’s Library Gallery for an exhibition of her work, an artist talk entitled The Frame & I—a two-part talk on The Gaze of The Filmmaker and The Viewer in animation art making. The talk will be followed by a work-in-progress discussion of her residency project, Home Sweet Home. Agarwala will be present for the reception, starting at 3:30pm in The Theatre Centre’s Café and BMO Incubator.

The Theatre Centre is an accessible facility, with barrier-free washrooms and an accessibility lift to facilitate movement between floors. If you are planning a trip to The Theatre Centre and have any questions about accessibility or would like to make any special arrangements, please contact the box office at 416-538-0988 or by email

The Frame & I

In part one of her talk, Agarwala will speak to some of her influences and intentions as an image-maker working within the realm of animated documentaries, and speak to the significance of plurality, inclusiveness, and humour in her work and approach to animation. In part two, she will speak about The Gaze of the Viewer.

Home Sweet Home

In her practice, Agarwala considers ways in which the frame of filmmaking engages the spectator and how this frame can play an integral part in the formation of a narrative. For her residency project, Agarwala is exploring narratives of migration by political refugees.

Responding to documentation of experiences of recent immigrants to Canada as part of the development of an empathetically-grounded work, Agarwala will use her time in studio at TAIS to focus on the creation of an immersive stop motion short animated film presenting metaphoric landscapes. Her subject will be the sensory experience of transition, and the feelings that accompany displacement when structures of shelter (homes and communities) and their attendant relationships are threatened or untethered.

Pallavi Agarwala is TAIS’s 2017 International Artist in Residence. She is an illustrator and animator from New Delhi, India. After working as a graphic designer and freelance illustrator in India, she completed her Masters at the Royal College of Art (London, UK) on the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship in 2016.

TAIS (Toronto Animated Image Society) is an artist-run non-profit production centre that focuses on the exploration of animation as a contemporary art form. TAIS has a growing membership of artists who access the centre’s programming and production services. TAIS offers access to studios and equipment to support animation production by members and guest artists. TAIS also offers outreach education workshops across the GTA, and regularly organizes commissioning opportunities for new creation, including engaging in collaboration with other like-minded arts organizations to present new programming. Each year, TAIS also invites national and international animation artists for lectures, workshops, and screenings, and prioritizes involving artists from diverse practices, backgrounds and communities.SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) is a committed co-presenter with TAIS for Pallavi Agarwala’s residency. SAVAC is the only non-profit, artist-run centre in Canada dedicated to supporting South Asian artists. For over two decades, they have increased the visibility of culturally diverse artists by curating and exhibiting their work, providing mentorship, and facilitating professional development. SAVAC’s mission is to produce programs that explore issues and ideas shaping the identities and experiences of people from the region and its diasporas. They encourage work that is challenging, experimental and engaged in critical discussions that offer new perspectives on the contemporary world.